


Wild Wings and Hearts 💜 🐉 💜

by draconicsockpuppet



Series: Wild Wings and Hearts [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby (Dragon) Acquisition, M/M, Pre-Slash, The Dragon Thinks They're Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-04 11:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20470478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draconicsockpuppet/pseuds/draconicsockpuppet
Summary: It was a perfectly normal day on the northern border of Camelot, and then the dragon came swooping in.





	Wild Wings and Hearts 💜 🐉 💜

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anecdotalist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anecdotalist/gifts).

It was a perfectly normal day on the northern border of Camelot, and then the dragon came swooping in. Gwaine's patrol scattered – Bors galloped for the forest, the coward, while the men-at-arms hit the ground. At least Gwaine's courser stayed steady under him, bless her sensible heart and hooves. He directed her around the great beast's path and set his spear for a charge.

The dragon was smart, too smart; it evaded him, then plucked him up off his horse with one taloned foot. Gwaine struggled, but his arms were pinned to his side – his sword close at hand, yet completely inaccessible.

"Be still, sir knight," the beast rumbled; Gwaine hadn't known it could talk. As arguments went, it was unconvincing.

"Like hell!"

The wind was cold, the dragon's wingbeats mighty, and the ground fell away under his feet – Gwaine did stop struggling then. To fall was as certain a death as being roasted alive, and if he could survive until the dragon landed, perhaps he'd have a chance against it.

They flew into a cloud. It was a chilly, thick mist, and Gwaine felt drenched through by the time the dragon landed at last on a rock ledge. The ledge led to a cavern opening in a cliff or mountainside; there was no way to tell through the mist. And from the cavern came bounding _another_ dragon, this one tiny and white.

"Da!"

"This is not your da," the big dragon rumbled. "This is his fated consort, Sir Gwaine."

"What the _fuck_," Gwaine said with feeling.

"Da!"

The big dragon turned and lowered its great head till it could stare Gwaine in the eye. "You must watch your language, sir knight. She is very young, and only knows the one word at present."

"Go back to the fated consort thing," Gwaine said.

The big dragon sighed and flew off.

Gwaine looked down at the little dragon. She tilted her head. "Da?"

"You _are_ adorable, aren't you." Gwaine reached down and gingerly scritched the little dragon's head; to his delight, she purred. Well, as close as a dragon could get to purring. "Sure, I'll be your da."

* * *

Gwaine spent three days in the cave with the little dragon. The mist cleared just long enough for Gwaine to see that they were on the side of a tall cliff overhanging the sea, the rock so slick with all the moisture in the air that he had no business trying to scale it without at least a rope to anchor himself.

The big dragon returned for just long enough to drop a freshly killed cow on the ledge, then flew off again. There was a pile of wood inside that looked like it'd been twisted into kindling by a massive set of claws – no prizes for guessing whose – and Gwaine used some of the longer pieces to set up a tripod and start smoking the meat. Who knew when the big dragon would feed them again? The little dragon ate the organs first with apparent glee, and she kept calling Gwaine 'Da' and begging for head scritches.

On the third day, Merlin came.

"Kilgharrah, you overgrown lizard! I will skin you for boots, see if I don't!"

Gwaine had never been so grateful for the sound of Merlin's voice, except perhaps that one time with the bar tab he couldn't pay. The little dragon seemed to share his excitement; she hopped up and down, flapping her wings and calling out: "Da! Da!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." A coil of rope thumped down on the ledge, its other end leading up into formless grey. Merlin's feet followed it down soon enough, and then the rest of him.

"Aithusa?" Merlin peered through the mist. "Gwaine! Everyone's looking for you. Bors said a dragon flew off with you, but." He shrugged.

"It's Bors." Gwaine wouldn't believe Bors if he said it was daytime and the sun was shining.

"Yeah, well, I figured I know a dragon who actually would fly off with you, so I came looking. Good thing I did, too." Merlin stuck his head into the cave; there wasn't much there to see. "He just left you here?"

Gwaine nodded.

The little dragon flapped her wings and flew – in an extremely shaky manner – to Merlin, not so much landing as running into his side and then clinging to his shirt with her claws so she didn't fall off. Merlin cupped his hands around her and helped her climb up to his shoulder. "There you go, darling girl."

"You know the dragon." Gwaine squinted at him. "You know both the dragons. You _threatened_ the big one."

Merlin looked shifty, then sighed. "Pretty much."

"Right." Gwaine looked around. The ledge hadn't improved any. "How about we get out of here, and maybe you can explain why?"

"Getting out of here, I can do." Merlin looked shifty again. "I'd rather not explain the dragons, if it's all the same to you."

Gwaine shrugged. He had his own secrets to keep, and Merlin had always been a good friend to him, even when he hadn't deserved it. "Sure."

Merlin smiled. And then Gwaine got to enjoy the view as he followed Merlin up the rope, so all in all, it was a lovely end to a terrible holiday – right up until he reached the top of the cliff and the big dragon was laying there in the grass like a cat in a warm patch of sunshine.

"Greetings, young warlock," the big dragon rumbled.

"Boots, Kilgharrah," Merlin said. "I certainly have reason."

Gwaine stood back and let Merlin argue with the dragon; they seemed to have plenty of practice being disagreeable with each other.

"Aithusa requires a guardian."

"And I've told you many times, it's not safe for her in Camelot. If Arthur finds her, he'll kill her! Is that really what you want?"

"Young warlock, I am old and tired, and Aithusa is very youthful and energetic. I fear that I will not be able to care for her much longer."

"Let the young people look after themselves, right?"

The dragon lowered his head till his chin brushed the top of the grass. "I am not … well suited to parenting," he admitted. "I have little patience for her antics. Nor am I in any great hurry to explain 'why, why, why' when she reaches that stage of development."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "While I am entirely certain that you are telling the truth about this one thing, I don't understand how you think I'd be any better a guardian for her."

"Da!" Aithusa said, and then she flew right at Gwaine. Gwaine scrambled to catch her; she chirruped at high pitch and then began a series of trills that sounded a bit like laughter.

Merlin and Kilgharrah both stared at him. Gwaine wrapped his arms around Aithusa protectively. "What?"

Aithusa licked his chin. "Da."

The dragon's lips pulled up into a smug smirk or smile or grin – whatever it was, it was terrifying with all those teeth on display. Gwaine held Aithusa a little tighter.

"I see my remaining arguments are unnecessary. I wish you both the best of luck." And the dragon flew off again, the giant scaly prick.

"I'm so sorry," Merlin said. "He's always like this."

"Annoying?"

"Cryptic. Dismissive. Thinks he knows best." Merlin waved his hands in the general direction that the dragon had fled. "Take your pick."

Gwaine squinted at him. "He said I'm your fated consort."

Merlin started coughing. When he recovered, he straightened and said, "What."

"You, me, the stars, dragons spouting nonsense – You know. All that." Gwaine grinned. "Don't you like the idea? _I_ like the idea."

Merlin bit back a smile; Gwaine could tell. "You're a madman."

Gwaine shrugged. "So are you most of the time. What's your point?"

"…We can talk about it when we get home."

That wasn't a no.

Gwaine and Aithusa whistled together all the way back to Camelot.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to demitas for beta reading.


End file.
